The Friday Baking Project
Pain au Chocolat

Yield: 7 to 8

# of servings: 7

Ingredients

1 recipe Croissant 

6 oz chocolate, 55% to 71%

1 egg, lightly beaten

Special equipment needed:

• 1 half sheet pan or cookie sheet line with parchment or a silpat

Pre-recipe preparations:

• Using a sharp 9″ kitchen knife, cut slivers of the chocolate bar. 
• Whisk the egg in a 1-cup glass measuring cup or small container

Directions

1. Roll the croissant dough on a lightly floured work surface to a 22″ by 7″ rectangle. Using a knife or a metal dough scraper, cut the top and bottom long edges to achieve a 6″ wide rectangle.  Trim the two short edges so they are a straight line.
2. Using a ruler, cut 3″ lines along the long side, creating 6″ by 3″ rectangles of dough.
3. Brush egg wash at the bottom of each rectangle. 
4. Place 0.75 oz of chocolate slivers in each, just above the egg wash, in the bottom third of the rectangle.
5. Fold the top third down and then over again (see picture below) to meet the egg washed edge. Press down lightly to seal. Place pain au chocolat on sheet pan or cookie sheet. 
6. Brush with egg wash and let rise in warm place until double in size.
7. Preheat oven to 400 °F. 
8. Brush (gently) with egg wash again and bake until golden brown, and just firm to the touch. 
9. Remove to a rack and let cool.
10. It is tempting, but don’t eat until they cool off just a bit, as the croissant dough needs to set to maintain the layers.